Coming Home to the Family Farm

National security, conserving land for generations to come

For years, the Bowers family considered conserving their family land in the Dale area of northern Beaufort County. Then, in the summer of 2023, thanks to a partnership with the Bowers family, the Department of Defense, and the South Carolina Conservation Bank, they achieved what had become a family goal, conserving their land.

Robert Bowers, eldest brother in the Bowers family, described the 488-acre property as a family retreat, a homeplace. Spending time at the property growing up, he and his siblings gained a deep love for nature. The family continues that legacy, creating memories with their children and grandchildren by hunting and fishing in the ponds and creeks.

Conserving their land

Bowers Farm sits along the South Wimbee River in the St Helena Sound in the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto (ACE) Basin, north of Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. It provides an important landscape free of high-density residential development that hampers military training in the future. The Department of Defense has a national program designed to establish conservation lands around military bases to avoid such future conflicts.

The Department of Defense, preferring to fly over farms and forests rather than houses and shopping centers, provided funding to conserve the Bowers family land.

The Bowers continue to own the land, and a conservation agreement (technically called a conservation easement) ensuring that the land won’t be overdeveloped will now run with the property for generations to come.

Partnerships help conserve critical lands

Military partnerships like this can protect local farms, wildlife habitat for birds like the bald eagle, scenic forested road frontage, keep our rivers and creeks clean, and improve military operations here in Beaufort.

Because of the importance to national security, the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort and our land trust have partnered on these projects for almost 15 years, protecting over 9,000 acres near and around Bowers Farm and the air station. The majority of the land remains in private ownership and on the tax rolls, subject to permanent conservation agreements.

The land protection effort is voluntary in nature, working with landowners who which to conserve their lands and in this case, want to help with national security by creating a conservation buffer around the military base.

Our partnership with the Department of Defense, the South Carolina Conservation Bank, and the Bowers family demonstrates how powerful and beneficial land conservation can be when we work together.

“The conservation work we do today will be instrumental in what Beaufort County looks and feels like in the future. The community support of local land conservation is more timely than ever, and in this case, demonstrates an added importance to our military’s readiness,” reflects Kate Schaefer, Director of Land Protection.